China's approach to the Mid East crisis

Owing to such events as inviting the Taiwanese “defense minister” to visit the USA, and especially – the confessions pertaining to the possibility of America's nuclear strike on China, the Chinese moratorium to criticize the policy of the American administration and its “grand anti-terror crusade” was over by itself. There is an example to prove it - the comments about the Mid East tour of the American Vice President Dick Cheney, which was published on the web-pages of Chinese communist party publication People’s Daily.

As it was said in that comment, Iraq was still a thorn in the USA’s side. Cheney's true goals of his tour on eleven countries of the Middle East were about convincing the Arab countries in the necessity to support USA’s anti-Iraq policy, to set up an anti-Iraq alliance, and create the conditions for the military strike on Iraq.

The USA realized after the longstanding air raids on Iraq and after the war in Afghanistan that only the overall war with the participation of infantry could liquidate Saddam Hussein’s power. The wide anti-Iraq alliance with the Arab world is needed for that first and foremost. However, all Arab countries are against the USA’s intention to attack Iraq. Cheney will hardly be able to talk them into re-considering their position and joining the anti-Iraq alliance.

First of all, the key point of the Middle East problem is the conflict between Israel and Palestine, which has been going on for 17 months already. Israel's bloody actions against Palestine caused a burst of anti-Israeli emotions amid Arabs. That is why they are extremely displeased with America’s pro-Israeli policy.

Secondly, the main victims of the longstanding sanctions against Iraq are the civilians. If the USA attacks Iraq the same way it did with Afghanistan, then there will be a lot of victims among the civilians. Thirdly, the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf fear that if Saddam Hussein is overthrown, there can hardly be another person found to control the situation in Iraq. The aggravation of the situation in Iraq, which is a large country of the region, will exert negative influence on the stability in the Persian Gulf and in the entire Mid East. The Arab countries can not agree with an attack in Iraq that simple, taking their own interests into consideration.

Fourthly, even America’s allies are against the strikes on Iraq. The government of Turkey repeatedly stated that it was not supporting the military action against Baghdad. It was fearing that the Kurds will use that opportunity on the border between Turkey and Iraq for arranging another mess. At present moment there are no conditions to hit Iraq, the author of the comments concluded, but the USA was not going to refuse from that idea.

Andrey Krushinsky PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov